iOS 17 improved iPhone post camera processing?

[TL24]

If iOS 17 gets released tomorrow (9-18) I can test that photo comparison for you. I have two iPhones, 14 pro max and I’m a photographer as well. I use ProRAW exclusively, mostly with the NOMO RAW app, that is best and cleanest raw app I’ve ever used. It removes the extra sharpening, cuts back on the luminance layers and gives the user a clean raw file.

• Image Refinement: With ProRAW as the starting point, NOMO RAW could further remove the artifacts on your mobile photos, including over sharpening, luminance noise, detail loss, etc.

So if you guys want samples, I can provide…

Would love some comparison.

My wife is still on iOS 16 but her damn main lens has a broken glass so can’t do comparisons right now lol

 

[ToddH]

Would love some comparison.

My wife is still on iOS 16 but her damn main lens has a broken glass so can’t do comparisons right now lol

OK I understand that. Hopefully you guys have AppleCare plus to where you can go to your local Apple store. If you have one can get that repaired. I’m currently in the process of updating iOS 17 on one of my phones so it won’t be long.

 

[FeliApple]

Update: I installed iOS 17 RC and can confirm that images generally seem to be less oversharpened and processed than on iOS 15 and 16.

Glad to hear that some iOS updates bring one improvement at least. When I mentioned I am running iOS 12 on my iPhone Xʀ, somebody mentioned “I envy your camera, it was so much better on iOS 12!” I had no idea Apple worsened the camera’s post-processing on major versions of iOS, too! Hopefully that user, should they update, is a little happier.

Any Xʀ users on iOS 17 that can comment on this?

 

[Dsmith7]

Using ios 17 on my 14 pro max, the post processing is definitely toned down. Still there but acceptable now. Will continue to try it out and see for sure

 

[Paddle1]

Interesting. Sounds like we're going to need some new camera comparisons.

 

[ToddH]

Hey folks… I’m back with some samples. I used the twin viewer app to compare size by side. I took screen shots on my iPad of the app/photos and wrote 17 or 16 indicating iOS. If you have the 14 pro or pro max, heif max is definitely the way to go for the best image quality. Otherwise the 12mp files I think look a bit better in ios 17. I only tested the 1x camera so far. The images are zoomed in well past 100% so the fine detail at the pixel level can be seen. All photos were HEIF or HEIF MAX

When I started taking photos with the iPhone that was updated to 17, the phone got hot quickly which was unusual. Maybe I started too soon after the update?

ON THIS COMPARISON, TOP PHOTO IS AT 12MP, BOTTOM IS AT 48MP HEIF. BOTH IOS 17.

RED CIRCLE SHOWS ZOOM IN POINT

iOS 17 on both, one at 12mp, the other at 48mp.

The NOMO RAW app (best raw app I’ve used) does not have the hdr baked in and recovers lost details

NOMO in Raw

heavy crop zoom

Default camera in raw

heavy crop zoom

————————————————————————————-


indoor low light sample HEIF’S

ANY OTHER PHOTO REQUESTS BEFORE I UPDATE MY OTHER 14PM?

-Todd

 

[Ksyu332]

ANY OTHER PHOTO REQUESTS BEFORE I UPDATE MY OTHER 14PM?

-Todd

Thanks Todd, I haven’t updated to 17. Is there much difference between HEIF max 48 vs pro raw 48 (ignoring recovering details via processing post).

In your opinion 14 pro/pro max shooting 48mp heif/proraw at 1.2-1.5x, would there be any difference with 15 pro/pro max with same settings?

 

[ToddH]

Thanks Todd, I haven’t updated to 17. Is there much difference between HEIF max 48 vs pro raw 48 (ignoring recovering details via processing post).

In your opinion 14 pro/pro max shooting 48mp heif/proraw at 1.2-1.5x, would there be any difference with 15 pro/pro max with same settings?

The HEIF MAX is very clean because the smaller pixels being used instead of the 12mp format which uses the quad pixel layout. The quad picks up more light, but less details. So if you’re not a ProRAW shooter, definitely go with HEIF MAX on the 14 pro! So much cleaner and more detail. The ProRAW or RAW max as it’s called in iOS 17 looks a little better. If you do shoot raw a lot, I recommend the NOMO RAW2 app, that’s the best I’ve ever used! Raw files are so clean and sharp!!! There is a monthly and yearly subscription through. Not bad…
The NOMO app also cleans up the HEIF and JPEG files as well. This is what it says I part of the description

• “Image Refinement: With ProRAW as the starting point, NOMO RAW could further remove the artifacts on your mobile photos, including over sharpening, luminance noise, detail loss, etc.”

———-

As for the 1.2x to 1.5x is concerned, those settings are just crops of the 48mp sensor. Life tested that on my 14 pro max and ended up with a 20mp file at 1.5x.. the 15 pro / max I think renders the files to 24mp. So I’m not sure how they differ. I’m not upgrading right away, not much pizzazz or major features over the 14 pro max I have.

 

[narc1981]

After some days of iOS 17 RC, I can definitely say that pictures are much better, at least in RAW format with 13 pro.
Pictures are not over sharpened anymore, the overall look is much cleaner and with less artifacts, there is a native film-like look that is really cool (considering that is a phone, of course).
I can’t post any direct comparative with iOS 16, but the general feeling is this one and I’m pretty sure of it.

Can’t say anything about heic pictures, however.

 

[Ksyu332]

Ok, I had a quick play with 15PM at the shops, in proraw format, 1.2x spits out a 35MP image (30MP 14PM), and 1.5x spits out a 24MP image (21MP 14PM). Can I tell any processing differences between 15PM vs 14PM pro raw files ? Not really, unless you pixel peep but one thing I did notice consistently is 15PM is slight more sharpened than 14PM so you may have to tweak your saved presets in post. Also under same lighting the blacks are slightly more washed out. The differences are minuscule though .